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How to Use a Circ Saw with a Track

Photo: Matt Kenney To make your own cutting track, attach a straight plywood fence to a thin base made of plywood, MDF or hardboard, and use your circular saw to trim the edge of the base.

Photo: Matt Kenney Now when you use the guide, the edge of the base shows you exactly where the saw will cut, and the fence ensures dead-straight cuts every time. Be sure to raise pieces off your workbench, sawhorses, or floor.

If you are just starting out in woodworking, or you don’t have enough space for a tablesaw, you can make almost all your straight cuts with a circular saw, armed with a cutting guide (track) to keep the saw running in a perfectly straight line.

The good news is that you can make your own track with just a couple pieces of plywood (For more details, watch the Getting Started in Woodworking series episodes where they build the workbench), and one edge of the track will show you exactly where the saw will cut. So you just line up the track with your layout marks, and off you go.

If you’ve got $500 for a state-of-the-art track saw from DeWalt, Festool, or Makita, you’ll be truly amazed.

Today’s track saws are pricey at $500, but they make furniture-quality cuts, and the saw’s plunge action lets you stop and start cuts cleanly too.

These saws have smooth-gliding tracks that don’t allow the saw to wander, with rubber feet that grip the workpiece, so no clamps are needed (though they are provided). And what is really cool about these saws is that they plunge, so you can make cuts that stop and start in precise spots.